As with many of us, I've struggled with weight most of my life. Eating healthy doesn't come "natural" for me...I have to work at it. So, I started reading info from the health "experts." I promise it is soooo FRUSTRATING. Nothing's ever good enough.

Some experst say eat low cal others say no eat low carbs don't worry about the calories. Low cal people say eat potatos and foods like bananas, raisins, etc. However, if you read another article raisins are the devil's food and bananas are too starchy. It used to be that you could eat fruits and vegetables but now that's not enough. They have to be organic fruits and veggies...everything else will kill you...FAST! Let's not even discuss meat. Eat lean chicken, but not frozen chicken, fresh chicken but not just fresh chicken corn fed chicken but not just corn fed chicken...corn fed organic chicken that was killed on a Tuesday. Oh and don't forget oats...and not just any oats...whole grain oats...and not any whole grain oats only ones grown on a mountain in Montana are considered real oats (humor intended).

It is EXHAUSTING... For every expert that says eat this, there are 300 others saying that it is unhealthy. I'm just tired of all of the experts and have decided to do things MY WAY! That may sound crazy but I'm tired of all of the rules. I started above 280...at the time I needed a lifeline and not to hear the "experts" fight over what to eat. Just wanted to vent after I was advised to throw away all white flour and sugar products!!!!

I'm with Chickie Chicks... find what works for you. And if you are going to listen to someones advice (if you want someone to TELL you what to do) I truely believe it needs to be a registered dietician /nutritious. Not just a writer, or random person on the street. One that you trust... books, and the internet aren't always credible sources.

From my side of things i'm focused on eating BETTER, not perfect. I think if you can let go of the idea that there is a "perfect" way to eat and just focus on what works-for-you it might be easier to accept?

I agree that you have to find what works for you. I don't eat much in the way of fruits and vegetables, I eat processed food most of the time, and I just scarfed down some oatmeal/cinnamon chip cookies I made. That doesn't make me a bad person, does it?

Seriously, I too get tired of not just the conflicting opinions but the militancy of some people when it comes to food. For one thing, not everyone can afford to buy organic food. Not everyone can cook well, not everyone has time to cook every meal. What we can do is make the best choices available to us, given our individual circumstances.

Years ago, David Letterman did a bit about headlines of the future. My favorite: "Oat bran, the silent killer." And remember when eggs were evil? Not so much anymore.

__________________I want to free myself from the burden of inaction. I want to raise myself to any plane I can imagine. ---Crowded House

The thing is, the things they say are bad today, will be good tomorrow, and bad again the next day.... always changing.

I can't afford organic unless it's on sale. And really, why would I buy a dinky little organic thing when I can get a bigger non-organic thing for the same amount of money? I can't afford grass fed, or free range.... I just do the best I can with what I have. I try to stick with what was made by God, not in a factory, meaning I avoid processed foods as much as possible. I try to follow serving sizes and watch calories.

I haven't tossed out white flours and sugars and all things made from them. But when I eat one of these things, I realize it comes with a hefty caloric price tag, and I'll need to make up for it somewhere else. It's easier to make better choices more often when you think about how much more you get to eat! I don't think it's necessary to have to give everything up completely, just as long as smart choices are made most of the time.

I'm with you. I'm rejecting the so called experts, and just trying to maintain balance and make healthy choices.

You hit the nail on the head! It's so hard, one day something is good for you the next it's no good! Its very complicated but I agree with everyone, you just need to find what works best for you!
My chicken is frozen!
I don't eat organic, to expensive!
My oats are not from Montana lol
I drink tap water

My recent favorite was one list showing the top ten cancer fighting foods and another list showing foods which absorb the most pesticides while growing (can't wash it off). There was more than one thing on both lists.

I've maintained about a 50 lb weight loss for over a year now. I've definitely had my ups and downs, but I haven't given up yet and I'm not burnt out. But I also haven't settled on one 'healthy' thing to do.

There's some good advice here. DEFINITELY consider the source of where the information comes from. There's a lot of crap out there. Also, read the fine print - a lot of times things are only correlations, not direct causes.

For me, I've read, researched, and tried a lot of different things. I'm not on a program now, and I never was during this period of weight loss. I basically smashed together all I'd learned and tailored it to fit me.

The thing is, what I need and what works for me changes. So I change how/what/when I eat to suit that. There may never be one single thing that will always work, and I'm okay with that now that I've realized it. So I cycle through things that work for different times (stress, happiness, TOM, travel, etc.).

Find something that works for you. No one really knows what's healthy for sure. Try a balance of things - that seems to get the best results for a lot of people.

Also, someone said that dieticians /nutritionists are worth trusting - I'd also have to veto that. As well as the general practitioner's advice.

I'm not trying to be rebellious, I do believe that these people have general understandings of the components of food and nutrition sciences and can truly help people get started, but when it comes to more complicated issues, they also have no super claims to knowledge, they can simply guess using their common sense.

I suppose if I had a dietitician with 8+ years of experience researching nutritional science and biochemistry at the University, I would have a different opinion.

Most dietiticians are in and out of school in no time - they learn the so-called "objective" scientific knowledge on the topic and simply repeat it back to their clients without forming their own, informed opinion. But, the program is related to praxis - get them in and out in 2-4 years.

General practitioners, well, they certainly have a better overall understanding of how the body functions, but they didn't spend much time on the particular nutrition component at university, and I highly doubt they have time to follow all of the current research journals on the topic.